52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 6

Favorite Name

I don’t have unusual names on my family tree. Nothing I could use in a search box to help distinguish from other names. I have George, Philip, Mary, Marie, Maria, Robert, Richard, Sharon, Angela, Angie, Angeline, Dorothy, Henry. I’m the only Gayle on the whole tree. Of course, it’s not spelled like everyone else. I usually get Gail or Gale written on my coffee cup order. No matter, it doesn’t bother me like it did when I was younger. Back then, I didn’t even like my name. I would fantasize a different name like…Amanda. Then I’d have a nickname like Mandy.

Looking through my RootsMagic database, I kept coming back to the name, George. It’s my father, brother and maternal great-grandfather’s name. No difference in spelling. Dad would sometimes shorten it as Geo. That’s the well-known abbreviation of George. I always liked the name for a boy or man.

I also like the name Jennie. It sounds old, but not ancient old. It was my maternal grandmother’s given name. Growing up we always called her grandma Jean. I didn’t know her real name until someone referred to her as Jennie. When she passed away, we all found out her middle name, Sylvia. My mother and aunt both claimed them never of it. Grandma is the only Jennie on my tree.

In 1978, my husband, David and I named our first born child, Jennifer. Her name is unique. She’s not named after anyone in particular. No other Jennifer on either side of her family tree. We had a hard time picking a girl’s name. At the time, we lived in a mobile home. I would shout different names down the long hallway to see how they sounded and if we liked them.

When Jennifer was in kindergarten, my husband David and I went to our first parent-teacher conference. While waiting for the teacher to get Jennifer’s file, we strolled around the room admiring all the student crayon drawings that were displayed along the top of the chalkboard. We were shown which one was Jennifer’s. When I saw she wrote her name as “Jennie,” I stopped and stood there with my mouth open, gaping . Seeing my grandma’s name written by my little girl left me dumb-struck, unable to speak. I guess I expected she would spelling it J-e-n-n-y.  I couldn’t get over she had chosen to spell it J-e-n-n-i-e without me telling her about her great-grandma. I felt like my grandma had reached down and squeezed my shoulder, giving her approval. I think I smiled all the way through the parent-teacher conference, and give Jennifer a special hug when we got home.

©2018, Gayle Ficarra Wolcott #genealogy #52ancestors

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 2

Favorite Photo

I didn't know my paternal grandfather, Philip Ficarra, he died when I was three years old. My only memory is a very old, wrinkled man sitting in an upholstered rocking chair. 

I have several photos of Grandpa Phil, the photo below is a favorite. It was taken in Chicago, Illinois sometime in the 1930s. My father George, said he remembered his father wearing a straw skimmer hat all the time. Grandpa is wearing a tie, and with his shirt sleeves rolled up, it looks like it might be summer. I don't know what the event might be, or maybe he's at work and just stepped outside when the photo was taken. I got this copy from my sister, Sharon. She actually started on the genealogy journey in the 1980s. I picked it up in 2000 where she left off. She's been great to help me when I run into a snag with our family history.

Grandpa Phil was married four times. Two of the women happened to be both of my grandmothers. His second wife, Angie, was my father's mother, he married her 1922. He married his fourth wife, Jennie, sometime in 1946. Jennie was my mother's mother. I'm still looking for their marriage record. This is how my parents met. Father and son, married mother and daughter.

Grandpa Phil was my "brick wall" in my genealogy search. I couldn't get past him to his parents or grandparents. A few years ago, a friend of mine actually found his parent's marriage on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. I've been grateful ever since. I still don't have Philip's birth record and I can't seem to find his family in any census or New Orleans, Louisiana city directories. They have once again become my "brick walls."


Copyright 2018, Gayle Ficarra Wolcott
#52ancestors #genealogy #familyhistory

Ramminger Research

I’m on the trail to tie up some “loose ends” of one of my maternal lines. I have quite a few documents and sources, but I’m missing some key elements.

1852 Passenger list

My direct line immigrant ancestor was Andreas Ramminger. He was from a village in Germany, Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1852, Andreas, his wife Gertrudis (Gertrude) and their six boys boarded a ship in Rotterdam, Netherlands to come to America. The sons were, Conradus (Conrad), Joannes (John), Henricus (Henry), Jacobus (Jacob), Philippus (Philip), and Adamus (Adam).

They made their home in Sheboygan County Wisconsin by farming. In 1854, Gertrude died. 

1854 marriage record

Andreas married Wihelmine Bergner. In December 1854, he bought 40 acres of land from John M. Watson, who received the Bounty Land as a solider in War of 1812.

I’d like to research the land deed.

Learn exactly when Gertrude died and where she’s buried.

Name all of Andreas and Wihelmine’s children. The list I have is: Frederick, Maria, Herman, William Mary, and George.

George is my great-grandfather. He was born in 1866 in Rhine, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin.

Married Susanna Steinhauser in 1894. Their homestead was in Clark County, Wisconsin.

I’m going to the Wisconsin Historical Society to research all of the above, and hopefully, more!

Copyright 2017, Gayle Ficarra Wolcott

February 9, 2014: 50th Anniversary of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show

When I was growing up, most Sunday nights our family would gather in the living room at 8 pm in front of our black and white TV to watch The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS. He had a great variety show for the whole family. Ed would introduce the most popular artists in show business. From music, film, Broadway, opera, and comedy. When the space race was happening, Ed would sometimes have an astronaut stand up in the audience and take a bow.

My older sister, who was a freshman in high school, asked me if I was going to watch The Beatles on Ed Sullivan that night.

My reply was, “Who's that?”

She clued me in, “They're a new, popular band from England. Their music is all over the radio. Everyone at school is talking about them.”

“Sure, OK. I'll watch with you,” I said.

Since Dad had control of the TV, we told Mom and Dad we wanted to watch The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

 

“Who are they? Are they bugs?” Dad asked.

My sister explained they were a new, popular band from England. Mom and Dad relented.

When Ed finally introduced The Beatles, the camera panned over to the band. Their first song they performed was “All My Loving.” The teenage girls in the audience squealed in delight at the sight of The Beatles. The squealing soon turned into screaming. They screamed throughout the entire song. We had never seen or heard anything like it before. The sounds, the reactions, the volume, it was overwhelming! I think we sat there with our mouths open. WOW!

I became an immediate fan. I wasn't quite a teenager, but I was caught up in the action. Mom and Dad's reactions weren't the same as ours. “That long hair! The noise!” Mom and Dad rolled their eyes and wanted to change the channel right then and there. “NO! They're going to sing two more times in the second half of the show! You can't change the channel now!” It took some convincing, but the channel stayed on CBS.

During their second song, “Till There Was You,” the camera individually cut away to John, Paul, George and Ringo and put their name on the screen, to help introduce them to America. Now we knew who they were. When Dad saw one of the Beatles was named George, he thought they were somehow all right. Dad's name is George too. For their final song, the Beatles performed “She Loves You.” It's still one of my all time favorites.

On August 12, 1966, The Beatles began their 14-date final tour with a concert at Chicago's International Amphitheater. They played two shows, at 3 pm and 7:30 pm, each of which was seen by 13,000 people. My girlfriend, Connie and I, had tickets for the 3 pm show. We wanted to be as close to the stage as we could. We paid $6.50 for the most expensive tickets.

The opening acts for the entire tour were The Remains, Bobby Hebb, The Cyrkle, and The Ronettes. The Beatles' standard set throughout the tour consisted of 11 songs: Rock And Roll Music, She's A Woman, If I Needed Someone, Day Tripper, Baby's In Black, I Feel Fine, Yesterday, I Wanna Be Your Man, Nowhere Man, Paperback Writer, and I'm Down. During the tour they occasionally substituted the final song with Long Tall Sally.

That 1966 show I attended when I was a teenager is still one of my fondest memories. I have bragging rights!